Sadameko
by Song of White Crow
Summary: A Naruto taken from his world at birth and trained to be a young lord. One who has merged with the Kyuubi. What mysteries, what enemies await him upon his return?
1. Prologue Pt 1

A blonde and bloodied bundle lay amid the dead and dying. No noise came from it, so presumably it, whatever it was, was either asleep or dead also. Though the latter would have caused a great deal of joy to a nearby village, the bundle was not dead. Nor was it asleep. Instead, the blanket-wrapped form was staring at the bruised sky above with clear blue eyes, far more lucid than they should have been for a babe mere hours old.

A figure appeared at the edge of a forest, on the south side of the battlefield, closest to the baby. It was cloaked in a darkness that seemed a separate being, yet part of the figure. The form advanced towards the newly created living-sacrifice-and-prison of the nine-tailed beast known as Kyuubi.

"Well, child. You are, it appears, to be made in the image of that which you hold," it said in a voice that held time hostage in its echoes. "Your future looks bleak indeed if you stay in this world. Perhaps if you were raised in another that would change… though my Brethren do not agree."

The shrouded figure bent, and gathered the newborn in its spinner's hands. Holding the child in its arms with the voluminous sleeves hiding it from view, the figure moved towards the forest's edge once again.

"You shall be raised by another of my children, one who knows what you should be taught. Your name shall be what you shall cause. Naruto."

Sadame smiled down at the newly-named infant. He returned her gaze with his own serious one, acknowledging their connection. He yawned, feeling safe.

In times to come, he would indeed live up to his name of maelstrom. But that is then. For now, he was content to sleep, secure in the knowledge that he would be loved.


	2. Prologue Pt 2

Hello, hello. Well, this is my first fanfiction in a while… Sorry it's been so long. I am glad though that I decided to go back and review/revamp my writings, and reevaluate my writing skills. I now have a very good beta (when she can find time) that does actually give proper critique on my work as opposed to just reading through it and saying 'that's neat' or 'it's good'. I'm not taking potshots at my previous beta but she does need to work on better feedback.  
If you're reading this, you've probably read the first part of the prologue (or you should have; if not, not). This continues where it left off.  
I've also taken down those monstrosities of early fanfictions. It'll probably be the best thing I've ever done…

I don't own anything to do with Naruto or Inuyasha, I'm just blatantly plagurising.

Anyway, on with the fic.

She sighed in annoyance. Her Mother was late. Unfortunately, when you're related to a Kami, They will always argue that They are never late, but that They arrive precisely when They mean to. As a Kami cannot directly lie to a relation (at least not with Karma in the picture), this argument is often true. And thus, she stood in the clearing beyond her cottage, trying to prevent a headache worsening an already souring mood.  
Finally, just as she was about to turn around, and go and get some practice done so the day wouldn't be a total waste, a cloaked figure walked out of the woods on the western side of the clearing.  
"I know, I know. I'm late. But I had to talk to him first, or this Idea of mine will never work" the figure said before her Daughter could open her mouth.  
"Idea? Why do I get the feeling that I will be directly involved in this… Idea?"  
"Because you're my Daughter, one of my Children, and you've got a sense for anything that will affect you. And because you _are_ directly involved in this Idea, along with him and that Weaponsmaster friend of yours. A few indirectly involved people are his brother, his brother's mate and his mate. And of course, that crazy old goon that makes weapons and rides that bull."  
Her Daughter's eyebrow steadily rose while this list was reeled off. Suspicious and incredulous, she stared hard at her Mother.  
"You've got him to agree to this?! Since when has Sesshoumaru listened to anyone, including the Kami? And Inuyasha? How'd you get him to agree?"  
Sadame smiled. "I reminded Sesshoumaru of your bargain with him, and Inuyasha feels he owes you for that incident anyway…"  
"But what about Kikyou? I know we're friends now, but she doesn't like to leave her family for too long, and the Idea that you're proposing is of such magnitude that she would have to-"  
Sadame interrupted. "No, she wouldn't. I'll bring him to you. All you need to do is bring him to her when it's time for his lessons. Same thing with Toutousai, Myouga and Inuyasha."  
Kagome lifted her eyes to the sky. "Thank Kami-sama"  
"You're welcome, Daughter."  
Kagome glared, then smiled wryly. "When will he arrive? How old will he be?"  
"Tomorrow. And I know you like looking after children of all ages and species, but this one will require care as soon as he arrives. He'll be very young, probably not more than a few hours old."  
"Oh good. I can start training him from scratch, so he won't have anything to unlearn, and I can help the meld along a bit."  
Kagome turned and left the clearing. 

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Two days later, Uzumaki Naruto met the woman who was to become his mother in all ways that count. The meeting did not shift the Earth or cause a disturbance in the fabric of the universe, but it was the beginning of an influential time in Naruto's life – the time he would spend being trained in weaponry, diplomacy, energy manipulation, strategy, seal making, both demonic and holy, the use of his instincts, and absorbing the Kyuubi's knowledge and power. But most of all it was a time of familial ties, most especially with his 'Kagome-mama'. 

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However, when Sadame returned to Her loom, She found Chaos had thrown a spanner in the works, though if you want to get technical it was a large tangle; one that would take her years to sort out.  
Annoyed, Fate began the monstrous task of straightening the threads. 'It must have been the Gods of luck and justice, and where you find one of the seven gods of happiness you generally find several more of them. They're getting me back for my insistence on moving him. Well, we'll just see about that…' 

It did indeed take Her several mortal years to sort out, and during that time no significant new fabric of space-time was woven on that stretch; it covered Naruto's world of birth, so this was not necessarily a problem - they were still recovering from the aftereffects of the mess with Kyuubi, which though Fate had not intended for it to happen, Chance interfered.  
And when Sadame had finally gotten to the bottom of the tangle, She found that _Someone_ had shifted a thread. This would not normally be a problem, except that the thread was that of Uchiha Itachi. Someone had moved his birth to be _just after_ Naruto, even though he was three years old at the time of the Kyuubi's maddened rage. This meant Sadame would have to shift several more threads for the ages to be right. Trouble was, Naruto being one of Her Children, She could not move _his_ thread. 

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_300 years after Naruto's arrival, Sengoku Jidai__  
_

"It is time."  
"So soon?"  
"It is not soon at all; and you have your learnings and _his _knowledge to draw upon, as you well know."  
"True. I guess there's no disputing it then; I will go back."  
"We will open the gate tomorrow."  
"Tomorrow, Sesshoumaru-sensei?"  
"Idiot student, have we taught you nothing about temporo-spatial co-ordinates? Tomorrow is when the timelines of this world and your home line up, Naruto."  
"Heh heh. My apologies, my wits and knowledge deserted me in the face of the suddenness of your announcement of my return."  
"See that it does not happen again."  
"Hai, hai."  
"Fool." 

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_15 years after the attack of the Kyuubi, Konohagakure no sato Ninja Academy__  
_

"…Team Seven is Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura…" Iruka was interrupted by extensive cursing from Kiba, "…and Uchiha Sasuke." The cursing redoubled in vehemence and volume. "Your sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight…"  
Kiba tuned out for the rest of the spiel in favour of eyeing his 'teammates' in unconcealed disgust (Sakura) and jealous anger (Sasuke). _Why, oh why, did I get stuck with the bastard and the pink-haired fluffball. Even _Ino_ would be better than her.  
_Iruka sighed. That Kiba would be placed with the Uchiha and Sakura was an unexpected, and frankly an unwelcome, surprise. He'd recommended a tracker team consisting of Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino, and that a second year genin be placed with the other two, along with an experienced Jounin instructor. He'd been ignored, and now the arrogant Uchiha was placed with two teammates who would not be cohesive, and a sensei that would basically treat him like an apprentice and ignore the other two. He sighed again.  
Things were not looking good for Team Seven. 

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Two months later, Iruka's observation was bearing out. The teamwork between the three was practically non-existent, largely because of the Uchiha's continuous brooding over his brother and his arrogance in his own skills. Kiba had given up even the pretence of trying to work with him, and largely ignored Sakura. Though he didn't show it, Kakashi was worried. He had never had a team before this, never even closely observed one, but he knew that something was very wrong with this one. He also had a good idea of what was causing it. Unfortunately he was under orders from the Council Elders that the Uchiha had precedence over the other two and was therefore his main focus.  
Despite this gaping hole in their group, they'd still managed to complete a large number of D-ranked missions. They'd been rewarded for this with a C-rank when Kiba had blown up in the Hokage's office. Team Seven were currently on an escort mission to Wave country, safeguarding the return of Tazuna, a bridge-builder. Not one of them had an inkling that this was the mission that would restructure the very fabric of their lives and change the face of the world for a good long time after. 

**A/N:** It's fairly obvious that there is a massive time difference between the world of Inuyasha and the world of Naruto. I just felt that no being can learn what I wanted Naruto to learn in just 15 years, especially along with growing from an infant to a teen. There's also the fact that being partly demonic has slowed his normal physical growth, not to mention the fact that his world runs on a different time frame, which would affect that too, slowing his growth further. Thus when he returns from the world of Inuyasha, he will only look about 16-18 as opposed to the more adult look demons often have (e.g. Sesshoumaru – his age is indeterminate, but his behaviour in the manga/anime suggest someone just coming out of teen years (21-24); but, being Youkai, he could in fact be much, much older.). Then there's the alterations I made to ages – Naruto being older than Itachi, for example. That shifted the entire timeframe in the Naruto world so that the numbers would match – 20 years in the Inuyasha world for every one in the Naruto world.  
I also had Kagome and Naruto be related to Fate – not blood relation, more like chosen avatar or something.


	3. Chapt 1

Once again, I looked over my chapters on and was really annoyed to find that the formatting I used didn't come through properly. So I decided to upload the chapters with a slightly different formatting…again.

If you didn't read the last chapter I'll say it again, I don't own Naruto.

Team Seven was in trouble. Hatake Kakashi, their sensei, was currently trapped in a sphere of water – suirou no jutsu – and his captor was not someone you'd ask to a tea party.  
"Get out of here! Take Tazuna and run, I'll be fine!"  
_Kakashi-sensei…_ Sakura was worried. Kiba was still too mired in grief over the loss of his nin-dog partner to respond to much of anything and Sasuke was frozen in fright from the nukenin's killing intent.  
Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of Hidden Mist, laughed.  
"I think you're getting your hopes up Kakashi! These brats of yours are still as useless as the day they were born." He sneered contemptuously. "They're barely out of diapers and you brought them on a mission? How far Konoha's standards have fallen!"  
A large white _thing_ came solidly screaming out of nowhere headed straight for Zabuza's arm. His eyes widening, he pulled his arm out of the ball, forcing its release and freeing Kakashi. The thing curved around and spun off into the trees, destroying any in its path.  
_Whoever threw that, I'm grateful,_ Kakashi thought as he caught himself on the water's surface.  
A dog's barking drew their attention to the shore where a figure was stepping out of the forest. Kiba's head shot up. He knew that bark!  
"Akamaru?" he whispered.  
A bark answered him.  
"Akamaru!" His voice stronger now, he turned towards the newcomer. A brown and white streak leaped from his shoulder and raced for his master.  
"So, he's yours then?"  
Kiba looked at him gratefully. "Thank you for saving him! I thought I'd lost him."  
"Your welcome, Kiba-san."  
_I've got Akamaru back! Akamaru's back! Wait, what? He knows my name?  
_The stranger lifted his hat slightly. "I'd suggest, if you don't want to die, that you don't step outside of that line."  
_Bah! He's barely more than a boy!_ Zabuza thought.  
"What line?" Sakura said. The rest of the group had questioning expressions on their faces.  
"This one." The young man lifted his hand to his chest, forming what looked like a half-ram seal. His hand glowed blue and the next moment, a thin line of earth in a circular shape hoed itself around them. It closed itself in a figure of eight form. The line then flashed blue, highlighting an invisible dome around them.  
_What the fucking hell?_ Kakashi blinked.  
The man turned to Zabuza. "That takes care of that. I assume you, sir, are the aggressor?"  
Zabuza laughed, long and hard. "Aggressor? That's a new one. But, yeah, I attacked them."  
"Just checking." _Checking? What the…?  
_Laying down his weapon, revealed to be a giant white boomerang, he lifted his hand and as they all watched, his fingers grew into claws. The whisker marks on his cheeks deepened, and a tail unwound itself from his waist. He tossed his hat aside to reveal a pair of golden fox ears.  
"I was travelling untroubled up 'til now. I think I'll take the inconvenience out of your hide."  
" 'Zat so? Kid, you're welcome to try!"  
"Don't mind if I do." He vanished.  
_Wha…?_ Zabuza was suddenly thrown across the clearing. He rubbed his chin dazedly. _That hurt!_ was all he had time to think before he was tossed up in the air and hit with a string of blows finishing with a red-glowing strike to his breastbone.  
Caught against a tree, he watched with unfocused eyes as his opponent slunk towards him.  
_Is this the end? _he thought.  
Schluk.  
Apparently so.  
_'Bout time he got here…  
_But not by the blonde's hand.  
"Ufufufu. My thanks." The masked arrival jumped down to gather up the body.  
"And you are?"  
"A hunter nin from Kiri." Kakashi answered dazedly in the masked nin's place.  
"Ah."  
"Bye-bye!" He was gone.  
Kakashi pried himself out of his stupor. He moved towards his bestial saviour. Standing tall on the lake's edge, the young man reached up to feel his ears.  
"Damn. Not enough" he growled, appendages twitching in annoyance.  
Suddenly, Kakashi stumbled. The blonde turned, in time to see his rescuee go head-over-tail. He lay there panting.  
_Idiot_._ The Sharingan used too much. My chakra's drained_. His world greying, he inchingly covered his eye again. A whump, then footsteps approaching caught his attention.  
"You're in a right sorry state."  
"Thank you for…pointing out…the obvious," he gasped.  
"Haaaaa. Blast my upbringing," the speaker grumbled, "Mah, I suppose it can't be helped. I have nothing better to do."  
"Wha-oof!"  
"Looks like I'll be joining you for a bit."  
From his new position on the blonde's back and supported by the boomerang, Kakashi spoke.  
"Thank you."  
"Huh. You're welcome." He looked to Tazuna. "Oi, ojiji. Where were you lot heading?"  
"Uh… home?"  
"You don't sound too sure of that."  
"Yeah, I was going home. The ninja were escorting me."  
"Well, let's get going then." He shifted Kakashi. "This guy needs to rest up and he can't do that here."  
"Oh, right! This way!" Tazuna leading, they moved off.  
"Oh, yeah. Oniisan?" Sakura.  
"Hmm? Me?"  
"Yeah. What's your name?"  
_What _is_ our rescuer's name?  
_"Naruto. My name's Naruto." 

**A/N:** If you read Naruto fics with any regularity you should know what most of the Japanese used here means. If not, here's a glossary. I won't do this every chapter though. Just where I've used Japanese that people might not know. 

Haaaaa – sigh  
Kiri – mist, referring to Hidden Mist Village  
Mah – corresponding to the English 'well, …' in this instance  
Nin – ninja  
Nukenin – missing nin  
Oniisan – brother, here it's used as a younger form of 'mister'.  
Ojiji – least polite form of 'grandfather'. Sort of like 'paps'  
Suirou no jutsu – water prison technique 

The chapter following this one is currently in bits and pieces, and it may be a while before I'm happy with the structure. It'll be posted as soon as I'm happy with it.


	4. Chapt 2

Here's the second (proper) chapter. Sorry it took so long – I've lost my second beta, so now I need a new one. I can understand where she's coming from, 'cos she's just going into Year 12, and she's got her own stories too, but it would have helped if she could have at least gone over this one before she told me. Meh, my own fault, I suppose, for taking so long. If you want to take on this story as beta, PM me with your email address, and I'll send you a practice piece. Go over it and send it back along with your modifications in a different colour. You have to be able to give decent criticism and suggest possible idea replacements when required. If you can be prompt about returning checked chapters that's even better.

When you read this chapter, you'll probably notice that Sakura pulls her head out of the clouds fairly quickly. I did this because I'm going to focus on other characters more, making her something of a minor character. Therefore I did not want to deal with her much. I don't have any real patience with Fangirls of any type. Ino I'll put up with 'cause she at least has some innate sensibility. Sakura has none, so I want her straightened out and out of the way as soon as possible. And what's up with Kishimoto? He seems to have lost the plot, from shortly after Sasuke's defection. I mean, Naruto's been training with a Sannin, granted he's the laziest of the three, but still. You'd think Naruto would have far more in his arsenal and would've calmed down some, instead he's just a roughly adult-bodied version of his 12 year old self. Not cool Kishimoto, not cool.

The night was quiet. Moonlight gilded everything with a palette of whites, greys and blacks, giving an eerie feeling to the mist-enshrouded Land of Wave. Kakashi's visible eye opened._ Where…? Ah. Tazuna's home._ They'd gotten there in the late afternoon, shortly after which he'd fallen asleep. _How long…?_  
"'Bout time you woke up." Kakashi twisted to peer into a shadowed corner. Clothing shifted as their newest acquaintance moved into a patch of moonlight shed from the window. "You've slept for thirty-two hours straight."  
"Naruto-san." _Thirty-two hours? So it must be some time after midnight._  
"Aa."  
"…What are you still doing up?"  
"I never slept."  
"What?"  
"I need less sleep than most people. It means I can go for longer periods with little or no sleep, and still function at a hundred percent." _Is it a bloodlimit?_ Kakashi wondered. He voiced this thought.  
"What's a bloodlimit?"  
"You mean you don't know?" _If he doesn't know, then probably not._ "A bloodlimit is something peculiar to your blood-related family. It's generally an enhanced ability like sight or strength. Some families have stranger abilities like being able to manipulate certain elements with fewer handseals or completely sealless."  
"Never heard of anything like that."  
Stopping in the middle of shifting to a sitting position, Kakashi looked at him suspiciously. "Where _have_ you come from? Most people in the Elemental Countries know about bloodlimits and handseals."  
Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Ah, sorry. I forgot. I come from a land quite far from here. I'm not sure I can go back."  
"Really? What's it like there?"  
"It's very different. For one thing, it seems quite peaceful here in these lands. For another, your fighting methods are very interesting. I know weaponry and words, but I've never seen someone use energy quite the way you do."  
"So you've never seen Jutsu? I find that hard to believe."  
"Oh, I've seen spells, demonic and holy, even been trained in them, but never the combination of chi and ki."  
"Chi? Ki? What are they?" By now Kakashi was sitting fully upright and alert.  
"Chi is the energy of the body, of life. Ki is the energy of the soul."  
"So chi would be physical energy and ki is spiritual energy."  
"Yeah, suppose so."  
The conversation fell into a lull. They sat in silence, Kakashi contemplating the answers he'd received.  
"Kakashi-san."  
"Mm?"  
"Why have you not trained them equally? Doesn't it interfere with your ethics?"  
Kakashi glanced at him sharply. "How do you know?"  
"I can see auras if I want. Duck-butt-cut's has quite a few overtones of yours, whereas the other two don't." Kakashi glanced at the walls. "Don't worry. I've soundproofed the room from the other side." Naruto pointed to a half-hidden ofuda on each wall with a final one above the door. "Nobody but us will know what is said in this room this night."  
Kakashi gazed at Naruto with dead eyes. "Ethics have no place in a shinobi's life."  
Naruto moved to stand in front of the window, staring out across the road towards a nightmare forest. "Are you sure?"  
"In a profession which demands you lie, steal, kill and impersonate people as the job description, you cannot have morals."  
"Morals? I thought you said _ethics_ had no place in your life."  
"Same thing."  
Naruto turned away from the window, looking at Kakashi from the corner of his eye.  
"But it's not, is it? Ethics and morals, I mean."  
Kakashi looked away.  
"Think, man, think! Do you say "a chicken is a bird" or "a bird is a chicken"? One does _not_ mean the other! So you can have ethics and not morals. Are you really, _truly_ without _any_ guidelines?"  
"I-"  
"Will you kill another for sport? Do you rape or pillage on assignment? Do you go out of your way to cause damage or harm without due cause?"  
Kakashi exploded. "NO! Never! I have never- I could never-"  
"So you do have ethics, however skewed they may be. And you're in conflict as to what to do."  
"No I am not." he said tightly.  
"But you are, Kakashi-_san_, you are. How can you not be? You've been asked, _told_ to do something which goes against your ethics, and you can't do anything about it, or so you think. So you're in conflict with yourself, over whether to follow orders and get two innocents undeservedly killed, or whether to disobey, and make sure they can take care of themselves."  
The silver-haired man gaped at this stranger, this unknown, who had him figured out far more quickly than he'd ever thought possible.  
"You forget, I can read auras if I want. I do it as a standard response whenever I meet someone new that I will be in company with for an undetermined amount of time. Not more than a flash, but it's enough to tell me important things about whoever I'm with. And this conflict within you is as clear as day to me."  
Team Seven's sensei slumped. "But how can I help them? How, when if I disobey I stand to lose so much?" he said brokenly.  
"If you cannot help them yourself, find someone who can. Surely you have those that you can prevail upon to help you, help them?"  
"But- "  
"But nothing. If you can see a way clear to do as your ethics demand, without incurring penalty, take it!"  
The light came back to darkened eyes. His visage firmed as he resolved to do whatever required to ensure that his team did not die for petty reasons, Kakashi nodded in gratitude to the man who had set him straight. "I will."  
"That's all I need to hear." Naruto said. He clapped Kakashi on the shoulder and moved to the door. Taking down the ofuda, he said "I'll take the other's down after breakfast."  
"Naruto-san." The blonde turned. "Thank you."  
The young man smiled. "Your welcome."

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Meanwhile, in a hut deep in a forested middle-of-nowhere somewhere in wave, the hunter-nin was tending to Zabuza.  
"Zabuza-san." No answer. "I should really pull out the senbon. But first- " He reached into his kit, withdrawing a small pair of cutters, the type used for removing sutures. Reaching for the bandages about Zabuza's face intending to cut them, his hand was grabbed.  
"Haku."  
"Au, Zabuza-san, you are awake after all."  
"So poorly aimed." Pulling the senbon from his neck, Zabuza lurched upwards.  
"Zabuza-san! If you're not careful you will injure yourself most severely! Please desist, allow me to take care of them-" Alarmed, the hunter-nin made as if to force him supine again.  
"Enough." The masked one stopped. "You were taking too long. Now, remove that damned mask!" Removing the mask revealed an androgynous face, with large eyes, making it difficult to tell if Haku was male or female.  
Feeling the injured area, Zabuza complained "Couldn't you have chosen another place to hit me? You could have killed me for real."  
"But the neck has the easiest points to hit to cause a death-state."  
"So cruel, you are."  
"Sou desu ne."  
"…"

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The next morning after breakfast Team Seven followed Kakashi outside. He led them to a clearing in the nearby forest, where he stopped, letting his weight fall on his crutches.  
"Right. Today you learn the tree-climbing exercise"  
"Ano, Sensei? How will that help us?" Sakura asked. Sasuke scowled at his teacher and Kiba hmphed, before throwing his two bits in.  
"Yeah, how does climbing a tree help? We already know how to climb trees." Kakashi smiled.  
"You will be climbing trees without using your hands." They stared at him. "By learning to climb the tree, you will learn greater chakra control, theoretically enabling you to master any jutsu." Sasuke smirked. _This will make it easier for me to kill HIM._

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Sakura finished quickly.  
"Well done." Kakashi eye-smiled at her.  
She blushed, and glanced sidelong at Sasuke to see if he had noticed her achievement. He didn't even glance at her. She looked down, crushed. _Why didn't Sasuke-kun notice me? Is it because I beat him? ... No, I'm sure it's because he's trying hard too.__** Cha! That's it, that's it! We'll prove our love to him yet!**__ Yeah!_ She looked up and smiled happily, before glancing at Sasuke again.  
Naruto observed the group from his position in the crook of a tree. Seeing the changing expressions of Sakura, and remembering the conversations of last night, he came to a decision.  
"Kakashi-san."  
"Mm?"  
"I need to speak with the girl."  
"All right then. Sakura!" She looked up. "Naruto-san wishes to speak with you."  
Sakura was puzzled. Why would a person she hardly knew want to talk to her? He beckoned and she followed him to another clearing. She looked at him expectantly.

"Girl, you SUCK!" Sakura stared at him, shocked. "I honestly can't see how you even got to this level. Simply put, you. Are. Weak."  
"B-but how can you say such a thing? I was the top kunoichi in the class!" she spluttered. He looked at her calculatingly. Casting about he spotted something that would do.  
"You see that rock over there? I want you to lift it." She looked in the direction he was indicating and her jaw hit the ground. He wanted her to lift _that_ monstrosity?  
"Not that one, the one next to it." _Oh_. The rock was about six inches high and a foot across, far more reasonable than the half-ton cliff next to it. Moving over to it, she grasped it and heaved. Reaching a foot off the ground, it became too heavy for her and she dropped it.  
"See, this is what I mean. A true ninja of your level should be able to lift a rock of that size above their heads, no problem." Naruto glanced towards where her team was training. "Admittedly your teacher doesn't seem to have trained you much, maybe from some misguided attempt to protect you from life's hardships. But that's no excuse for your level of pathetic strength."  
_Is he saying that I'm that weak?_ "B-but Sasuke-kun- !  
He looked sternly at her. "Is the duck-butt-cut more important than your life? Because if you don't start getting serious and become the trained killer your rank says you are, you'll lose it before the moon is out."  
_Is it? Is it really worth losing my life in favour of chasing after someone who's given no sign of returning my devotion? __**What are you saying? Of course it's worth it; Sasuke-kun's just repressing his emotions! Cha!**__ Is it that? Or is it that he never had feelings for me… no, anyone, in the first place?  
_He started to walk back to the clearing where her team was. As he passed her he said "Think about it. Is your fussing over beauty and obsession over the boy really worth the probability of your death and the wasting of your potential?" 

She stood there for quite a while after he left.

**A/N:** I probably should have another chapter before this one, but I want to move on from the Wave arc. The Chuunin Exam arc will have far more interaction, I just want to get this bit over with. The only reason it's important is because it's where Naruto arrives. Once he meets with the rest of the Rookie Nine and Team Gai, the story will be fleshed out more.

The conversation with Kakashi may seem a little out-of-the-blue, but I needed him to actually be of use leading up to the Chuunin Exam. This was the only way I could think of to do it. Sorry if it seems too soon. I may eventually go back and add another chapter before/modify this one, but not right now.

Chi – body/physical energy  
Jutsu – technique  
Ki – spiritual/soul energy  
Ofuda – mostly used by houshi/miko, they are conduits for spiritual energy. Can be used for seals, barriers, to exorcise spirits and demons etc.  
Senbon – foot long needles often used by medic- and hunter-nin. Excellent for hitting a specific point on the body, as seen with the death-state Zabuza was placed in.  
Sensei – teacher  
"Sou desu ne" – literally "it is so". Basically Haku is agreeing with Zabuza. 


End file.
